02-20-2024 07:12 PM
I have a few questions about the following situation I have before contacting the buyer: I sold an item to a buyer, but was surprised to see it was returned to me today with an attached label from the USPS saying "forwarding time expired, return to sender".
Looking at the tracking on eBay shows the package was delivered in mailbox at the original shipping address, however upon looking at the tracking on USPS.com, the package was forwarded to the buyer's forwarding address, and after a couple of failed delivery attempts at this second address, the package was eventually sent back to me.
I wanted to reach out to the buyer and give them the option of either getting a refund or I re-ship the item to them, but I'm not even sure if it is worth re-shipping if there is no guarantee that their package won't go through forwarding again.
If the buyer wants me to ship the item a second time, and since the transaction ended, is it OK to message the buyer and coordinate sending a PayPal invoice over e-mail-- or would this still be against eBay's rules and regulations (and what would be a good solution for this)?
On the other hand, if the buyer wants a refund, is it suitable to give a partial refund for the amount of the item while leaving out the cost of shipping?
Alternatively, would it be OK to just wait until the buyer reaches out? I understand from a customer service standpoint this is not recommended- but from my understanding on packages with multiple delivery attempts, the buyer would no longer have buyer protection and if the buyer submitted an INR claim, it would resolve in my favor given the circumstances. I would prefer to reach out to the buyer, but I wouldn't be opposed to taking this approach if it is reasonable.
Please let me know your thoughts and advice, and thank you for reading.
02-20-2024 07:23 PM
I
I get returns every month. I don't have the time to email these buyers. They need to contact me.
And none have. I would give a refund if a buyer contacted me. None have. Would I spend more shipping to mail something out again. Nope.
02-20-2024 08:12 PM - edited 02-20-2024 08:14 PM
Thank you for your response, this is pretty much the same attitude I have about this. In the event you were asked to give a refund, I assume you would only refund the item value, or would you refund the full value including shipping? In my case, shipping was nearly $10, which would be inconvenient for me considering I did everything right on my part (and for the buyer since they didn't receive their package).
02-20-2024 08:19 PM
Because I receive so few returns for the issue of bad addresses, I always contact the buyer to notify them of the problem -- then I refund all but the shipping fee, plus the 30 cents eBay selling fee.
I also advise the buyer that I will be re-listing the item if they're interesting in purchasing again, providing that there won't be any future delivery problems.
And, if I have already re-listed the item, I provide the new item number for the buyer's convenience.
Sometimes they respond -- and sometimes they don't.
Flip a coin.
02-20-2024 09:22 PM
Ebay in their policy do not allow that, if he ask for a refund and you told ebay, ebay will give you the reason.
it happened to me time ago
02-20-2024 09:26 PM
Hi @richarkis4 . This is my standard advice for RTS (returned to sender) packages. Take the parts that are relevant to your situation.
You have a few options. You should decide which route you'll be taking and communicate with the buyer, but wait until the item is returned (and delivered) to you before you take any of the following actions.